Steven Grossman, the port's aviation director, said some former officials get to park in the lot, for free, for as long as a year "as a courtesy."

These guys could teach Miss Manners a thing or two about gracious behavior. Bazile, now a candidate for mayor, hasn't been on the council for more than five years, though he says he isn't taking advantage of the airport's hospitality.

"I haven't used it in years," he said yesterday. "I don't even know if I have a card. This is the first I've heard of it."

That apparently isn't true of Woods-Jones, whose car was spotted in the VIP lot last Friday, some 14 months after she left the council.

Grossman said Woods-Jones is one of those whose privileges were extended. Jim Gardner, director of landside operations at the airport, said Bazile may be one of dozens of names that should have been purged from the list but have not been.

He attributed the problem to the failure of staff to update the list regularly and the failure of some former officials to turn in their access cards when they leave office.

"If your name is on the list and you don't turn in the card, you have access to the lot," Gardner said.

The list also includes a good number of business people who, along with elected officials, are viewed by airport officials as goodwill ambassadors, people who pass along a good word about the airport to dignitaries in other places, said Cyndy Johnson, an airport spokeswoman.

"We've determined that there are business and community leaders in addition to the politicians who are eligible for this benefit," she said. "We don't force it on them."

Being a former pol from outside Oakland is no disqualification, apparently. The list eligible for parking freebies includes two former Alameda mayors, Chuck Corica and William Withrow; a couple of former Piedmont City Council members; and a few names that personnel officials in their hometowns don't even recognize.

Well, there's no parking in the airport's VIP section, so let's go up the twisting ramp to the next level.

The parking situation at Oakland's City Hall appears just as murky.

I couldn't get a straight answer from any city official about who holds the green placards that allow City Council members to park in designated on-street parking spots. No one seems to know how the process works, who holds a placard or how many of them have been issued.

Oakland City Councilman Ignacio de la Fuente, who heads the office that handles the placards, said that only the mayor and other eight members of the City Council are supposed to have them.

But one close observer, Sanjiv Handa, who runs a wire service and publishes a weekly newsletter about City Hall, has counted as many as 17 placards displayed in vehicles around the building at various times.

I should clarify that I have no quarrel with elected officials receiving special parking treatment for public business. My beef is with the people who aren't in public office but take the perks.